Egino II (Freiburg)

Egino II, Count of Freiburg. Sculpture on the front of the Freiburg Minster

Egino II († 1318 ) was Count of Freiburg from 1271 to 1316 . He was the eldest son of Conrad I of Freiburg (1236–1271) and Sophias von Zollern.

Egen, in whose essence defiance, decisiveness, and arrogance were united, was equally absent because of his hostile position towards the newly elected King Rudolf ; while his brother, and especially their politically clever cousin Heinrich von Fürstenberg, remained loyal to the king who was related to them. The reason for the break is probably obvious: Rudolf demanded the return of imperial property that had been held back by Egino, was strict about the peace of the country and favored the cities over their masters .

Quarrel with King Rudolf

In general, the new king was not expected to have much stamina because of his small property in northern Switzerland and Upper Alsace. Egino could easily persuade Freiburg's citizens in 1275 to destroy the Zähringen castle , which in 1218 did not come to the Urach family as a fief, but instead fell back to the Reich as a fortress at the instigation of Frederick II . When Rudolf appeared with a large army in front of Freiburg in 1281 because of this high-spirited act against imperial property, the count and citizens begged for mercy after only three weeks of siege. Knowing full well that he cannot expect any money from Egino, Rudolf asked the citizens to pay in the deed of atonement, who had to pay 2000 silver marks as reparations to repair the war damage and to pay the count a further hundred silver marks annually in addition to the previous hundred .

New version of the city constitution

When in 1293 the city council wanted to revise the city toboggan from 1120 because the writing is allegedly illegal (illegible), there were disagreements with Egino II about the city constitution. Because the new constitutional letter is not just a copy of the old one, but it contains new provisions. Now the craftsmen get more political rights through their guilds. The city council grows to 67 members when the 18 guild masters join the existing 48 councilors. Egino agrees to the new version of the city toboggan, provided that the finances are correct. For him it is: the citizens should give the gentleman two hundred tokens of silver annually for throwing (tax), immediately to Sante Martinsmeß the most important provision of the new constitutional letter .

The death of Konrad von Lichtenberg

When Rudolf dies in 1291, the electors, Adolf von Nassau, again elect a weak candidate without power to be king. When Rudolf's son, Duke Albrecht, appeared on the Upper Rhine to enforce his inherited claims to the throne, Count Egino II and his son Konrad took his side while the city stood by the king. After Adolf had fallen in the decisive battle of Göllheim, Albrecht confirmed to his allies, all rights over the land and people of their rule to the dinst, which si us and the riche hant done .

Freiburg had bet on the wrong one. Strengthened by Albrecht's praise, Egino demanded money from the city as compensation. There was a dispute between the citizens and the count, in which the unwilling to pay Freiburg from Oberlindenplatz shot at the lower Eginos castle with throwing machines. Egino called his brother-in-law Konrad von Lichtenberg , the Bishop of Strasbourg, to help against the rebellious citizens. Umb S. Jacobs day (July 25th) / thou the city of Freyburg in Breisgaw was occupied / by Mr. Cunrates von Liechtenberg the bishop of Strasburg / and storms the city / thou ran out of the city much fresher servants and dapfere burgers / the sting with the enemies / and when the bishop instructs his people in the army / do a burgher from Freyburg / who dares what a butcher / who ran into the enemy / and stabbed the bishop / when the deal / do drew menigklich and the Whole lot of all immediately from there / and the war was ended when the bishop stabbed something . The wicked killing of a bishop had to be atoned for. The letter of atonement is dated January 30, 1300 and determines an increase in the amount of money to be paid annually to the Count from 200 to 300 marks. The financial burden on the city is alleviated by the levying of a levy (tax) on wine.

Quarrel between father and son

But even the annual donation of 300 marks is not enough to cover the count's expenses. Egino sells one good after another due to lack of money. The young count becomes so angry about this that he imprisons his father in the castle. Finally Egino hands casually on March 31, 1316 his son Konrad rule.

literature

• Eva-Maria Butz: Noble rule in the field of tension between empire and region , vol. 1: The counts of Freiburg in the 13th century , vol. 2: Source documentation for the history of the counts of Freiburg 1200-1368 (publications from the archive of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau 34), Freiburg 2002.
• Heiko Haumann, Hans Schadek (ed.): History of the city of Freiburg. Volume I, Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2001.
• Heinrich Hansjakob: The counts of Freiburg i. B. in battle with their city. Leo Woerl Verlag, Zurich 1867.
• Johann Schilter: Chronicke of the city of Freyburg in Brisgaw. Jostas Städel Verlag, 1698.
• Julius Kindler von Knobloch : Upper Baden gender book , Heidelberg 1894, Volume 1, p. 388/389 online with family tree of the Counts of Freiburg
• Arthur Kleinschmidt :  Egon III. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 691 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hansjakob, p. 19
2. ^ Joseph Bader: History of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau. Herdersche Verlagbuchhandlung, Freiburg 1882/83
3. ^ Haumann and Schadek, p. 157
4. ↑ Schilter, p. 29
5. ↑ the article in the ADB refers to the person listed in Wikipedia under Egino II; For the different counting methods used by the Counts of Urach-Freiburg, see also Josef Jakob Dambacher : Documents on the history of the Counts of Freiburg. In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine, Volume 9, 1858, p. 228 (footnote) online in the Google book search

predecessor	Office	successor
Konrad I.	Count of Freiburg 1271-1316	Konrad II.